Legacy
by Ina-chan
Summary: Benton reminices his past


February 26, 1998 (revised Oct. 31/04)

Disclaimer: JQ Characters belong to HB & Turner Productions.

Legacy (1/1)

by Ina-chan

_**"What do you want to be when you grow up?"**_

I learned to hate that question as a child. I wanted to growl and poke the eyes out of whoever asked me that question. Of course I didn't. It wasn't the proper thing to do for a person of 'our stature.'

_**"So what are you going to be when you grow up?"**_

_I'm going get a big black bike, wear a cool leather jacket and ride all over the United States of America._

_**"A lawyer ma'am."**_

_**"Oh how wonderful! Your father must be so proud!"**_

At this point, I would glance at my father who will give me this proud 'father's day' smile. I would smile back then turn back politely to entertain his stupid guests.

My father... one of the wealthiest and most successful entrepreneurs of the century, a proud man with high expectations, who loved his only son more than his own life, who ensured his son had the best education, who gave his son everything he ever wanted, who wanted to secure his son's name and stature in society...

... who wasn't there when his wife needed him the most.

... who is never there when I need him.

God only knows how much I loathe him.

I swore that if I ever have a son of my own, God help me! I will never... NEVER be like him.

And yes. I never wanted to be a lawyer. He did.

I didn't really know what I wanted to be back then. All I knew is that the world is a vast ocean of mysteries. And I wanted to solve every one of them. I wanted to go to the moon after watching Neil Armstrong's first step. I wanted to build ships, aeroplanes, robots, and talking machines. I wanted to travel through the freezing arctic or wade in the tepid rivers of the Amazon. I wanted to help mankind...

... and share all my dreams with him...

He laughed.

He patted my head and said how proud he is of me for having a great imagination, then said that flights of fancy have its own time and place. That if I wanted to help mankind, I have to work with people, not machines... That I could help more as a defender of human rights and of the law... and maybe I might even become president...

So when the time came... I went to law school. And it happened...

I disappointed him.

It was like running at full speed then hitting a brick wall. Maybe it was just the fact that it was my father who wanted me to do this, or maybe I was just not cut out to do this, or maybe I really was stupid... It was just so FRUSTRATING! I never failed in anything in my entire life. All of this just made me feel... angry!

Distressed over the progress and possibility of kicking out the son of one of the founding families of this great educational institution... the University bigwigs matched me with a private peer tutor.

IMAGINE! ME! Requiring a tutor! In the past, all I learn... whatever it may be... I thrived, I flourished, and I excelled. I graduated high school with the highest marks and as class valedictorian. I left Prep school in the Deans list and the gold medal of excellence in my belt...

At one glance, she looked like one of those flower children. Long blonde hair, big bright blue eyes, innocent mischievous grin...

Bitch.

She was also one of those no nonsense, no sense of humour, die hard political science students... burn the bra in the courtyard radical feminists. Yeah, right. She acted more like a godamn Nazi with special prejudice towards men, especially me.

'Rachzbitchel the Hun'... Adolf's long lost daughter. Let's just say, the arrangement was not a happy one. This woman seems to have this fixation on proving to the world that men are genetically stupid... specially... guess who? Yup! Me. But after all the name callings and verbal jousts, there was one thing that she called me that was essentially true.

"Coward! That's what you are Mr. Benton goddamn arrogant S.O.B. Quest. Stop cowering down and feeling sorry for yourself making everyone around you miserable! You have a GIFT man! USE IT! If THIS is NOT what you want, then get the hell out of here! Stop wasting your time. Stop wasting MY time."

So I dropped out of school.

I never have to see Adolf's offspring again.

And it felt good!

But my father wasn't exactly pleased. That screaming match on that day I decided to move out for good was really the last time we really talked TALK. I traveled around for a while... odd jobs here and there... It was fun!

...until my father finally caught up with me...

We had a compromise. Stop staining the family name and go back school, I get take any course or University I wanted. So I went back to University... far, far away. I never really did set foot back into that house ever since then. Someday... maybe... when the wounds heal... Maybe I'll return home to Maine.

But University life was a blast. Everything just came back easily after that. There I was plucking courses and degrees away, one after the other... basically impressing everyone since no one has really seen a person ace his first bachelor's degree within a non-stop two years, and still graduating with the highest marks. People who knew me thought I was probably one of those late blooming geniuses.

Right.

Who cared about them?

This was what I wanted! I was learning the mysteries of the universe. Solving the puzzles called sub-atomic particles, studying lost civilizations, basking in the cultural fires of the gift of tongues. This was what I wanted! And I'm finally happy?

Right?

...right...

Six years after we parted, my father had a stroke and died.

We never really did have a decent conversation after that talk with the lawyers.

It's so funny, how sometimes life can become ironic all of the sudden.

My father's dead. I thought... I was finally free... only to find out that this was just the fastening of the first shackle. I was now the proud young owner of Quest Enterprises... with no background or business sense whatsoever.

I was very... pissed off...

...at life, for being such a hell hole...

...at my father, for dying... for making sense...

...at me, for not listening.

It was rough at first, but I did manage to get the hang of it. I mean, the stock market didn't crash because of me yet... YES. I know what you're thinking! THAT was not my fault. Life goes on... sometimes with unexpected twists.

It was roughly after my Physics Ph.D., quite a while after I published my research thesis when Uncle Sam got interested in my ideas. I know, pretty exciting... but that wasn't what the irony is all about. That was when I got aquainted with the President's aide.

I crossed paths with HER.

Again.

Adolf's daughter.

I didn't really recognize her at first. She... was still very... upset about me referring to her with my creative 'unpleasant names' back then... But she was the one who pushed me into getting a backbone, so I guess I do owe her.

One word of advice... Guys, when expressing gratitude toward a Lady with no fear of commitment or strings... just send her a card. I learned and fell the hard way. A very turbulent and confusing two years later...

'Rachzbitchel the Hun' became Mrs. Rachel Wildey Quest.

I have no idea how it happened... or know exactly when it was that she succeeded in conning me into falling in love with her. It was a very... weird... experience. But I didn't really care. It was that period of my life that I could say that I was truly happy.

When my son arrived, I knew that everything was finally complete. I'm telling you, nothing can compare to the feeling of holding your first born in your arms for the first time. I know that they say that babies can't really see until they were a few months older. But I swear, when I held Jonathan in my arms, he opened his eyes and looked at me. As if his beautiful clear blue eyes were saying: 'So... you're my Dad! Cool! Hey Dad! Nice to meet you, now lemme sleep.'

I remember trying to hold back my tears as he reached out and curled his tiny little hand around my thumb... as he yawned... and as he peed on my shirt.

Amidst the great joy and pride I felt, I also felt... fear. So that day I made a silent vow.

**_"You can be whatever you chose to be, my son. Whatever you want and I will always be here for you."_**

Then life mocked me.

_**"You have a gift Benton, use it..."**_

Gift... Or curse? You'd think, that after all the things you've done for the good of mankind...

Never listen to a woman.

It was a conference in Switzerland... While I was demonstrating a tool that will help mankind lead a better life, they tried to take my family away. Rachel was able to prevent them from getting their hands on my son, but she wasn't able to save herself.

Nothing is sacred anymore. The world has become so power hungry that human life is reduced to nothing more but a commodity. The government assigned a man to protect my son. Another tangible proof of my weakness, my limitations, my fears...

I wasn't able to save my wife...

I was powerless to do anything...

I am incapable of protecting my son.

But despite my fears of the uncertainty of the future, there is one promise that I know I will keep.

_**"So Jonny, who are you going to be when you grow up? Are you going to be a world famous scientist like your Dad?"**_

I feel only pride surge through my heart, as I watch the four-year-old in my arms shake his head without hesitation... without looking for a cue...

_**"He will be what he chooses to be, isn't that right big boy?"**_

My son only looked up at me and flashed his mother's smile in agreement. I can only try so much to keep a straight face as my son would intelligently answer the insistent questions I hated so much as a child, with a very serious adult-like solemn expression.

_**"Well then, who do you want to be when you grow up?"**_

_**"Batman."**_

_Anything you choose to be my son, anything you choose... _

---FIN---

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